Examination of useful items for the assessment of fall risk in the community-dwelling elderly Japanese population

Demura, Shinichi; Sato, Susumu; Yokoya, Tomohisa; Sato, Toshiro

doi:10.1007/s12199-009-0124-7

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine

Table 2 The result of factor analysis on physical function

From: Examination of useful items for the assessment of fall risk in the community-dwelling elderly Japanese population

Items	Sub-factor	Factor analysis				High-fall risk rate
		Factor loading			Communality	Non-faller (%)	Faller (%)	Difference (%)
		F1	F2	F3	Communality	Non-faller (%)	Faller (%)	Difference (%)
Wringing out a wet towel^a	Muscular strength	0.446	0.078	0.106	0.314	4.6	16.6	12.0 ns
Carrying (about 5 kg)^a	Muscular strength	0.702	0.157	0.064	0.529	7.4	18.9	11.5 ns
Bucket of water	Muscular strength	0.580	0.115	0.028	0.358	4.8	13.7	8.9 ns
Folding up and down a light futons or blanket (light futon)	Muscular strength	0.603	0.098	0.028	0.377	4.8	13.1	8.3 ns
Jumping a (approx.) 30-cm ditch^a	Lower limb strength	0.762	0.152	0.158	0.635	9.1	23.4	14.3 ns
Standing from sitting posture(Seiza) with hands on the floor^a	Changing and holding posture	0.476	0.041	0.226	0.325	6.5	16.0	9.5 ns
Buttoning or unbuttoning a shirt (quickly with hands)^a	Upper limb function	0.476	0.331	0.156	0.392	14.0	25.7	11.7 ns
Climbing up stairs slowly without a handrail or wall^a	Going and down stairs	0.653	0.102	0.304	0.554	9.7	26.3	16.6 ns
Putting on a sock while standing^a	Balancing ability	0.553	0.265	0.283	0.487	15.6	37.7	22.1 ns
Standing with one foot (about 5 s)^a	Balancing ability	0.606	0.227	0.137	0.537	10.9	29.1	18.2 ns
Putting on pants or a skirt while standing without holding an object	Balancing ability	0.585	0.313	0.273	0.554	14.8	32.0	17.2 ns
One foot balance with open eyes (about 10–20 s)	Balancing ability	0.685	0.241	0.187	0.633	11.8	28.0	16.2 ns
Putting on pants or a skirt while standing and holding an object	Balancing ability	0.809	0.186	0.060	0.731	5.8	21.7	15.9 ns
Standing on the bus or train (while holding onto a hand strap or rail)	Balancing ability	0.803	0.097	0.084	0.673	8.3	22.3	14.0 ns
Walking 1 km^a	Walking ability	0.600	0.222	0.247	0.522	10.1	26.3	16.2 ns
Using walking aids^a	Walking ability	0.785	0.116	0.124	0.656	4.4	20.6	16.2 ns
Walking (about 20–40 min)	Walking ability	0.578	0.210	0.264	0.522	10.6	26.3	15.7 ns
Pedestrian crossing	Walking ability	0.559	0.054	0.069	0.336	6.9	19.4	12.5 ns
Walk without walking aids	Walking ability	0.525	0.032	0.172	0.294	3.9	12.0	8.1 ns
Gait become staggering	Gait	0.587	0.169	0.422	0.572	15.6	33.1	17.5 ns
Walking straight on a single line	Gait	0.506	0.215	0.211	0.372	13.4	26.9	13.5 ns
Sit-up (1–2 times)^a	Muscular strength	0.317	0.492	0.051	0.406	27.3	41.1	13.8 ns
Folding up and down a heavy futon^a	Muscular strength	0.316	0.589	0.244	0.492	31.7	45.1	13.4 ns
Sit-up (3–4 times)	Muscular strength	0.160	0.651	0.101	0.438	56.8	68.0	11.2 ns
Carrying (about 10 kg)	Muscular strength	0.298	0.617	0.099	0.431	38.6	49.7	11.1 ns
Running (3–5 min)^a	Walking ability	0.364	0.475	0.345	0.466	30.8	42.3	11.5 ns
Walking (about 60 min)^a	Walking ability	0.159	0.514	0.352	0.399	48.5	59.4	10.9 ns
Running (10 min or over)	Walking ability	0.002	0.502	0.199	0.253	79.2	85.7	6.5 ns
Standing from sitting posture (Seiza) without hands^a	Changing and holding posture	0.313	0.432	0.311	0.383	37.6	53.7	16.1 ns
Jumping a gap (about 50 cm)^a	Lower limb strength	0.280	0.582	0.263	0.458	38.1	48.0	9.9 ns
Buttoning or unbuttoning a shirt (with single hand)^a	Upper limb function	0.038	0.553	0.025	0.232	64.5	72.0	7.5 ns
Climbing up stairs (without handrail and wall)^a	Going and down stairs	0.209	0.538	0.471	0.507	44.5	64.0	19.5*
Standing on the bus or train (without holding onto a hand strap or rail)^a	Balancing ability	0.140	0.606	0.267	0.389	58.0	70.3	12.3 ns
One foot balance with open eyes (≥30 s)^a	Balancing ability	0.159	0.401	0.375	0.318	56.2	63.4	7.2 ns
Short-stepped gait^a	Gait	0.190	0.189	0.678	0.470	38.1	59.4	21.3*
Slow-walking speed^a	Gait	0.137	0.221	0.739	0.518	42.9	64.0	21.1*
Take extra time to climb up and down stairs	Going and down stairs	0.329	0.235	0.619	0.460	26.0	42.9	16.9 ns
Assistance with going to the restroom	Walking ability	0.109	0.133	0.302	0.097	0.8	4.0	3.2 ns
Moving without assistance	Walking ability	0.110	0.194	0.245	0.104	9.7	10.9	1.2 ns
Staggering when turning around	Balancing ability	0.288	0.238	0.042	0.198	25.1	36.6	11.5 ns
Eigenvalue		9.14	4.74	3.34
Accumulative contribution		22.9%	34.8%	43.1%

Values in italics mean representative items of each factor
F1, Fundamental function; F2, advanced function; F3, gait; ns, not significant
*P < 0.05
^aItems selected as useful items

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